ADULT title
by
Laurel Greer
(Vino and Veritas series)
"Auden and Carter are the swoony heroes I didn't know I needed in my life! Turnabout is spectacular, and everyone should read it." USA Today bestselling author Sarina Bowen
I
don’t have time for an unplanned visit home to help out in my father’s
struggling letterpress shop. My stint in Vermont will have to be short,
for a couple of reasons:
One, I’m a busy executive trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Two, my ex is still my dad’s right-hand man in the shop. And I am not over him.
Nothing
has changed at the Burlington shop. Auden still has his infuriatingly
sexy Scottish accent. He’s still hot, and still stubborn. Between
operating the antique press with his shirtsleeves rolled up, and
moonlighting at Burlington’s hottest inclusive wine bar, he pushes every
one of my attraction buttons.
My falling-in-love-again
buttons, too. Except I’m his polar opposite. I love change, and taking
chances. Everything he avoids in life.
So why am I trying to convince him to reach for more than we’ve ever dreamed of—the possibility of forever?
Turnabout is a second-chance romance with interfering family, groveling, and a large helping of artisan stationery geekery.
Excerpt:
He lifts a dark eyebrow. “I said, I want to work with someone willing to wallow with paper and design. Tease out the one-of-a-kind magic.”
His voice is quiet, soothing. It demands I take a deep breath and get out of my feelings.
“I’ve been reminded of how much of an art it is,” I say. “And that I can get by, but you—you have a gift.”
Rosy splotches bloom on his cheeks. “You know what you’re doing, too.”
“I don’t have the rhythm of it like you do. The innate… mastery, I guess. The relationship.”
Auden tilts his head and looks out the front window.
“What?” I ask. “He’s not coming back.”
“I know, but hearing the words rhythm and mastery and relationship when it comes to using a press... I'm looking for locusts, frogs, horsemen—any sign of the apocalypse.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter.
Rhythm, mastery.
When he repeats the words like that, I’m not thinking of cast iron machines—I’m thinking about sex.
I can’t believe he didn’t call me on how filthy that sounded.
He’s biting his lip, still a little pink in the face.
Okay, maybe he’s thinking it, at least.
“I could show you,” he says.
Meeting his gaze is like swimming in a lake, when you dive down, down on a bright day, and you have the dark depths below, and the streams of light from above, and it blends around you like you’re wearing a crown of green water and sunlight.
Holy fuck. He’s too much sometimes.
“Come here.” He crooks a finger for me to meet him at the Chandler and Price.
Definitely too much.
I join him anyway.
He takes my left hand and places it on the small shelf on the front of the press where we’d normally collect the cards during a run. The wood is smooth. And it would feel exactly like palming a flat piece of wood always does, except his big hand covers mine.
“Artisanry demands that relationship.” His voice is insanely low, but he’s only inches from me, so I don’t miss a syllable.
“I’m not an—”
“You have the artistic talent. You just need a little patience.” He puts his other hand on my right hip and positions me square to the press. He taps his toe against my heel, a silent command to put my foot on the treadle.
“We’re missing some parts.” Paper. Ink. The frame. Everything that actually turns into a product.
“We’re not making anything.” He’s at an angle to me. If he leaned forward three inches, his dick would be pressed into my hip. His left hand is still holding mine to the shelf. The other is a heavy weight just below my waist.
“I don’t understand,” I say.
“Just watch it, Carter.” He sounds amused. “You want to know every quirk. And not to try to learn when you’re rushing through eight jobs at once. When you have time to go easy.”
“Really.”
“Really,” he says. “Grip the wood with your other hand, too.”
“Grip the wood? You’re fucking with me.”
“A little.” I can’t see his face from where he is behind me, but I hear his smirk.
A little? A lot. I grab hold of the shelf anyway.
“Just work the treadle,” he says.
I press my toe into the pedal, making the flywheel whir.
“And listen,” he says. “Watch.”
I do that, too.
I’ve been so damn busy since I got here—paper in, paper out, paper in, paper out—I haven’t actually watched anything I’ve done.
The rollers, mesmerizing as they glide over the circular, iron platen.
“What color’s the ink?” Auden’s hand tightens on my hip. His breath tickles the side of my neck.
There is no ink.
“Green,” I say. I can’t get that sunlit lake off my mind.
(I don’t want to. Ever.)
My tie… Why am I wearing something meant to restrict my airflow? I want to loosen it, but Auden told me to keep my hands on the shelf, so I’m keeping my hands on the goddamn shelf.
“Hear anything in the flywheel?” he says.
Just the whir and clicks and whuffs it normally makes. “Should I be?”
“Nothing unusual, but the more you know the sounds of it, the more you know exactly when to feed the paper.” He taps the top of my hand once. Twice. Again. Matching it up to some sensory memory that’s so ingrained in him, he probably dreams in that rhythm.
Anchored by his touch, I’m the one who leans in the three inches. My shoulder, touching his chest. His breath, much more than a tickle. A caress.
“It’s a pulse,” he murmurs, so gruff, the consonants and vowels mix together. His fingers brush the hollow above my shirt collar. My knees wobble.
“A pulse.” I tilt my head to the side, exposing my neck.
“Aye.” Bending his head, his lips land on the same sensitive spot.
My head’s turning faster than the flywheel.
“Auden.”
“See? You know the rhythm.”
Oh god, I don’t know anything right now.
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My review:
3.75 stars
Turnabout by Laurel Greer is part of the ‘Vino and Veritas’ series and centers around Carter Prescott, who’s a success in his professional life, but has never felt appreciated by his father. Ironically, his father’s emergency request for help at his artisan printing shop forces Carter to not only evaluate his career choices but also to deal with his painful past with his ex, Auden Macarthur. Each man has to learn how to establish priorities and determine what is truly important in his life.
This adult contemporary gay romance provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of printing and evokes the joy and fascination of fine writing materials and the care that goes into producing custom stationery. I could practically smell the expensive cardstock and visualize the brilliant inks and fancy pens even as I watched the give and take of not only the main couple but other connected folks and their relationships.
The story is told in alternating first person points of view so that one can see how the relationship imploded from both viewpoints, and how their fractured relationship needs to be realigned. Each of these guys come from a dysfunctional family, and it is lovely to watch them navigate around their challenges and remember why they formed a connection in the first place. I had trouble warming to each man at first, but I was relieved to see that they were capable of maturing. I enjoyed the story (and who can resist a Scot in a kilt?), and now I need to go shopping for some pretty stationery and fancy pens, lol.
A copy of this title was provided for review
That's a nice cover on that one. Sounds good.
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